Why Should Jewellers Care About the “Digital” ?
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Why Should Jewellers Care About The “Digital” ? KOULIDOU, Konstantia Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/27954/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version KOULIDOU, Konstantia (2018). Why Should Jewellers Care About The “Digital” ? Journal of Jewellery Research, 1. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk WHY SHOULD JEWELLLERS CARE ABOUT THE DIGITAL? AUTHOR Nantia Koulidou Journal of Jewellery Research - Volume 01 - February 2018 17 Why should jewellers care about the Digital? ABSTRACT The widespread development of technological components knowledge on the history and role of jewellery in peoples’ that could be miniaturised and worn on the body has opened lives. The functions of jewellery pieces are often rooted new possibilities for jewellers to explore the intersection in rituals and ceremonial activities, in personal values and of jewellery practices and the capabilities of digital adornment, the supernatural power of jewellery to connect technologies. Increasingly jewellery can play a role in valuing people with others in different spaces and time and the close the body, understanding, amplifying and highlighting the relationship between jewellery and body (Besten, 2011; body. However, this area remains under-explored within the Cheung, 2006; Dormer, 1994). These aspects have often contemporary jewellery practice. been neglected by big corporates. Either for sports, medical This paper provides a critical review of digital purposes or high-tech special effects in the catwalk, the jewellery practice from a jeweller’s perspective and offers body is often understood as data that can be tracked and the grounding for a framework for understanding digital manipulated and jewellery as a convenient place to host jewellery that reveals its potential within people’s lives. electronics. The research seeks to explore the more poetic qualities of Busch (2015) highlights that “it is hard to argue interaction with digital technologies that can enrich intimacy against the efficiency of all this self- improvement, but it is with other people, places and ultimately the self. equally hard not to wonder at what point self - awareness For clarity, digital jewellery refers to jewellery objects evolves into narcissism”. How much do we want to monitor which contain electronic components. Similar terms are ourselves? How much information is too much?” Jewellers in use by practitioners across disciplines, such as smart jewellery, computational jewellery, tech jewellery and the interpretation of the terms may vary from one discipline to Jewellers can contribute more to the the other. I have chosen the term digital jewellery, not as a limitation, but as a starting point of the discussion around the conversation of what it means for potential role of digital worn objects in our lives. humans to be wearing wearable devices. INTRODUCTION aising their concerns, issues of privacy The potential of synthesising digital technologies into jewellery practices has been presented widely by big and intimacy. corporates and to a lesser extent by jewellers. Additionally, research that focuses on the personal meaningful digital objects is limited and not often not within the jewellery can contribute more to the conversation of what it means for practice. More specific, jewellers seem to lack an humans to be wearing these devices raising their concerns, understanding of the potential of digital as a material in issues of privacy and intimacy. Such concerns are more their existing practices and technologists seem to lack the fundamental to the practice of making jewellery rather Journal of Jewellery Research - Volume 01 - February 2018 18 Why should jewellers care about the Digital? than the practice of fashion or product design (Busch, acceptance when it was introduced as aesthetic, appealing 2015). Gaspar (2013) highlights that jewellers have a deep jewellery objects and then as functional devices (Miner et understanding of how personal objects “vehiculate” and al., 2001). The term “digital jewellery” was first introduced materialise identity and [jewellers have the expertise] in as wearable technology for every day, when traditional creating and transmitting value, an aware of the political, forms of adornment are involved with wearable and digital societal and cultural implications of their designs. Therefore, technologies (ibid). if we are to assert the relevance of our discipline within our One of the early examples of digital jewellery is current culture and the future of our field, we need to engage the IBM set, a digital jewellery prototype of a cell phone with the challenges of these questions: that consists of several jewellery pieces that work together wirelessly. Speakers embedded into these earrings will be the How can the digital help us understand the self? phone’s receiver, a necklace with an embedded microphone, What is the value of a new way of imaging the body a “magic decoder ring” equipped with LED to indicate an through the digital? Can we as jewellers add value to incoming call and a bracelet equipped with a video graphics this process? array (VGA) display which could be used as a caller identifier that flashed the name and the phone number of the Digital jewellery as part of Wearable caller. The main intention of IBM’s Almaden designLab was Technology to make technology part of our daily life with the help of Today an increasing number of devices are considered jewellery pieces connected with wireless networking system. intimately linked to the body. Many such devices are used to track body fitness, manage phone calls and messages or “Worn throughout the day, digital jewellery could notifications from social-media. As communication devices, connect the user anytime, anywhere to information, they have some of the functionalities of a mobile phone; business, and communication services. Within its receive calls, send reminders and notifications. As objects known placement on the body, jewellery forms can be worn on the human body, they are small in size and typically used as an intuitive interface” Cameron Miner, 2001 have limited functionality, with minimal interfaces - compact displays and lower computing power. A characteristic of In the more recent Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) these devices is that they are connected to faster computing literature, Jain (2015) defines digital jewellery as “ fashion devices. They are often supported by an application that can jewellery that allow you to communicate by ways of e-mail, be accessed via an Android or iOS phone, while the device voicemail, and voice communication or “wearable ID works in the background. devices that contain personal information like passwords, In the digital age jewellery gained interest as identification, and account information” . Activity monitors objects already worn on the body. The digital information for fitness purposes provide the wearers with detailed conveyed in rings, bracelets, necklaces, and wristbands is a information on their everyday practices; count steps, measure generation of devices worn on the body, widely known as heartbeat and record biosensory data in real time. Since the wearable technology (Ryan, 2014). Even though wearable first digital jewellery to embed functions of digital devices technology has been around for decades, it had gained in existing worn objects, jewellery continues to gain interest Journal of Jewellery Research - Volume 01 - February 2018 19 Why should jewellers care about the Digital? with more recent examples presented as luxurious smart accessories. Companies such as Nike, Fitbit or Jawbone collaborated with jewellery designers, for example, Figure 1. (left) Flex Tory Bunch for Fitbit and Yves Behar for Jawbone UP3 2 Fitbit accessories (to encase Fitbit Flex Wristbands to produce luxurious cases for the fitness trackers tracker) (right) A picture of an iOS phone with the (see Figure 1). Fitbit application. The functions of the human body, within the wearable Silver, gold, electronic technology era, are observed analytically with a view of components. curing, correcting and enhancing performance. Arguably, Source: Press Kit. Image wearable technology often relies on technological solutions courtesy of Fitbit that focus on functionality and efficiency. It often takes a diagnostic approach such as sensing and displaying the wearers’ emotions and assumes a view of the body as data (Ryan, 2014) as something that can be controlled (Höök, 2013). I agree with Wallace (2007) that most of the existing examples of wearable technology offer a limited interpretation of what digital jewellery could be, limiting the integration of digital technologies and jewellery to the Figure 2. The Smart aesthetics of the archetypes of jewellery and its use as a case Heart cardiac monitor necklace by Leah Heiss, for digital components. 2016 in collaboration with St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Digital jewellery as part of wearable RMIT University, and health devices the Nossal Institute for Global Health; There is a long history of medical devices being worn on the body, but were scarcely considered as pieces of 3d printed parts, conductive threads, jewellery rather the opposite; as devices that stigmatize sensors the wearer and affect their sense of self in a negative way. Source: Leah Heiss